Game time

Had my second game of the cricket season tonight. I think I was looking forward to this one a bit more than the last as I had a decent idea of what I'd be able to do. And I was reasonably fit and able, which I wasn't for the last game I was picked for (rained off).

Word of Warning - this isn't a victory dance post ;-).

So how'd it go ? The other guys batted first and proceeded to cane our bowlers all over the place. I think they piled on about 150 in their 20 overs, which is a tough ask. My fielding did its job but was still pretty ragged. I had one run out chance but didn't hit the stumps with my throw. I did however succeed in my Intimidation Plan, which is basically : Be hyperactive in the field and make the batsmen think you're a livewire that you don't want to try running to. I enjoy doing that and when I'm on form, I'm rather good at it. That's the good thing about this season, I have my running speed back to how it used to be. Losing 1 stone over the winter has done me a lot of good.

I technically had a chance for a catch but got nowhere near it - it was one of those over the shoulder catches that I had no business getting anywhere near. And unsurprisingly, I missed it ! Still, I saved runs in the field and think I did ok. I reckon I'm getting my throwing action improved as well. I need to learn a good throwing action to preserve my weak shoulder.

We didn't do so well with the batting, although we did make a good effort. I opened the batting with our captain and my 3 tests went like :
1 - Did I get out first ? Nope !
2 - Did I get lowest score ? Nope ! Other guy got just 1 run, I got 27.
3 - Did I hold up our scoring ? Not so good here, I started well but was having trouble scoring later on.

We lost in the end by about 30-40 runs but we genuinely had a fun game, which is what it's all about. I picked up the bruises though, I'll have a shiner on my shin from practice before the game and probably a bruise on my thigh where I got pinned while batting. More seriously though, I have a bright red line on my right hand middle finger that comes from the seam of the cricket ball impacting my finger through my batting gloves ... I reckon the gloves did their job though, I'm pretty certain I don't have the broken finger I probably deserve.

Now watching The Matrix off DVD :-).